This is the baseline discussing the hot button topics of the NBA. Welcome everybody,
your tune to the baseline Kylie Warren's Shaw discussing the hot button topics of
the NBA. We keep things rolling along while the NBA Playoffs is going down.
Shaw and I are out there examining all of the bodies being laid out.
You know, there's only gonna be one team's left standing. The rest
of them are gonna be laid to rest. We got to take that time
out for us to be able to look at them, examine them, figure
out what went down, how did they die? Their untimely death and coveted
autopsy reports. So it's a great opportunity to have those conversations with the teams
that weren't quite good enough to get to the final stage of the coveted of
NBA Finals to at least have a chance to hoist that title. Let me
go and the red carpet to my right hand man's www dot shaw Sports dot
Net. Bicker Hunapee and see my man, mister shar repping out of Fort
Lauderdale, Florida. What's good, mister shaw Man. You know we we
were working over time we do do three bodies on the slab. This time,
we you know what I'm saying, We're back to our regularly scheduled maintenance
so to speak. This time, we're only going to examine two this week.
Two Western Conference teams that um, you know, uh probably one obviously
hope they could be moving on further. One. I'm just kind of happy
to be there. Didn't have the season they expected, still nonetheless, but
yeah, man, we're we appreciate the NBA for a long let's kind of
get back to a regular schedule program here. Three is a lot. Two
is you know what we can manage. And I'm sure with our fans listeners
are are are ready and uh kind of accustomed to as well too. So
get back to business as usual out here. As EPM D would say,
Yeah, man, we can't. We can't put that many bodies out there.
We start considering it, like you know what I'm saying, Like people
were gonna start start worrying about this is like oh this is this is not
a good thing, right, you know, laying out all these these bodies.
But now we actually enjoy the opportunity of having these conversations, um and
doing our autopsy reports, and it's kind of like a heat check, so
to speak. For Hey, let's not forget about the teams that didn't quite
make it, and even the teams even if they got outsted in the playoffs,
you know how they how things ended and the way things ended for some
of these teams, I think allows us to kind of put a marker in
the road to see about what possibility moves or you know, what decisions may
have to be made. And it also gives an opportunity shof us to even
speak specifically about the players that were that that are in line of sight,
you know, about the future being dictated for the organizations that they play for,
you know. Um, And I think that that in and of itself
is great conversation, great talk, Um, for us to be able to
use that opportunity, for us to even get people more enthused about the upcoming
NBA season even while they're enjoying what they're getting from the current NBA playoffs.
Yeah, very well said um. And I think one of the teams is
going to be it's they. They incite a lot of emotions about who they
are, what they are, where they're going, and whether or not they
should just pack it up and give up up. So a lot of controversial
statements made about you know, one LA team, which I think everybody knows
who that is going to be, So a lot of great conversation to be
had here in this week's episode. Man, this is going to be a
fun autopsy to say, absolutely, so I'm glad you've kind of leaked the
information out for us. Shaw. Two teams that will be discussing for our
Coveted Autopsy Reports will be discussing about the Los Angeles Clippers and it will also
focus our attention on the Minnesota Timberwolves. So, as always, we appreciate
you and yours for hopping on board with us this week. Be sure to
get in my man Shaw at Shaw Sports NBA or get at me a game
face leader shows to an handle at NBA Baseline. If you want to catch
this episode and also the previous episodes of our Coveted Autopsy Reports, be sure
to go to www. Dot Baseline, NBA dot com so you can catch
it and download. And you know, listen, man, we're always around.
We're always you know, on point with our discussions regarding stuff happening in
regards to the landscape of the NBA, but this Autopsy Reports, Man,
we just always have a great time, so you don't want to miss out
on some of the previous episodes that we've laid out for you. I think
it's really good content for your listening pleasure if you're listening or if you're watching
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to www Dot nineteen Media Group dot com. Let's not waste any time with
it. We always enjoy this time of the year. It's our coveted autopsy
reports. We've got the Clippers Wolves on the slab to keep us locked here
on the baseline. Time to break it. They're dead. My team,
My team is dead. They knew we were coming, man, they knew
we were coming. Time now put a breakdown. Callie Warrenshaw Baseline NBA podcast
and this is our covered autopsy report. We discuss the teams that gets ousted.
Um. First on the Slabshaw, we got to talk about him,
Los Angeles Clippers. Um. It's funny because even when we have a reason
to talk about the Los Angeles Lakers, the Clippers just find a way to
be at the forefront of conversations of disappointment. However, if you are a
Clippers fan through all of this level of disappointment, there has to be some
small ray of sunshine, some kind of positive outlook regarding a team that finished
fifth in the Western Conference, a team that obviously ran into a buzz saw
with the Phoenix Suns. Arguably, if they didn't get Kevin Durant, you
may still with Russell Westbrook had an opportunity to get to the Western Conference semifinals.
But no, that's not what happens with this team. Shaw, It's
always focusing on I guess you could say the clowns show the oaky doke.
You know what I'm saying, syndrome that teams to just kind of follow this
team, that we can't take them seriously, that they're always an accident waiting
to happen. They can't get out of their own way. And so that's
what's disheartening, because I'm sure if you're Tyron Low and you you've been coaching
for as long as you've been coaching, you've been doing what you've been doing,
you just wanted to mean something for this team, this organization, especially
for the type of year that they've had despite getting knocked out of the first
round. Your your statement there, accident waiting to happen. If that's not
the Clippers tagline, I don't know what is at this point. It's it's
nothing but solemness. I have. I feel bad in some ways for Steve
Bomber. You can say, yeah, he's you know, he's a little
out there and eccentric and things of that nature. Let me just you know
what you know, I like to do here when we talk about the autopsy,
We're gonna start with the numbers. First two hundred and one million dollars
and committed sally next year for the Clippers two one two oh one, no
options, just two one. Bomber has to pay out and that's without Russ
and that's without Plumbley, who they also acquired in trade and who was pretty
decent for them, and that too, So bump that number up another twenty
to thirty million dollars at least if you're going to try to retain those guys.
The law or Murphy's all always says, it's like, you know what,
when we at least expect them to happen, that's what will happen.
And maybe I think for the Clippers that's what they're hoping. We're all going
to cut them out next year. We're all gonna say yeah, yeah,
yeah, whatever they look out on paper, so whatso what be healthy and
then will prove it and maybe next year is the year that will happen.
But at this point it has nothing to do with XS and o's. It
has nothing to do with you know, what they do from an offensive,
defensive rating standpoint, or whatever the case to be. This is sheerly about
their guys being able to stay healthy and be on the floor and bad luck,
load management, whatever. It's all this convoluted gumbo of shit really for
the Clippers. That just can't allow them to be successful and nobody, nobody
is going to to believe in them in any capacity. And I do think
stephen A went hard and so the Clippers should have forced co Whider retire and
all kind of like wild stuff like that. At the end of the day,
Um, if Kawhi retired, I also would not be surprised, but
the Clippers forcing him to do so, I think it's just a pretty pretty
much ridiculous statement. But to me, the Clippers are almost almost not worthy,
not worth atop, seeing in the aspect of it has nothing to do
with anything that they can really control because they've died so many times in the
course of the regular season. But it's it's any times the same death every
single year. It's the same. It's the exact same way with other teams.
It's like, Okay, well this happened or that happened or whatever.
It's always Kawhi and PG weren't healthy, Kawhi MPG weren't healthy, And at
this point it's just a broken record of that. Um, nobody even really
cares about at this point other than the Clippers themselves. Yeah, Um,
it's sad because you can kind of blame the climate of the NBA saying,
you know, in order to win, you need at least two superstars.
Um Sean, you know how I've how I've been about this, right,
Franchises that make a decision to provide an identity to themselves have to understand that
the only way that you can mitigate the risk of this type of investment with
players is making sure that you have foundational players that you can lean on when
those guys go out. So what I mean by that is you look at
the Boston Celtics. They've drafted Tatum Brown, Smart right and role players.
And while they're leaning on these stars, you know, to to to come
up and be stars, they went and they did free agency moves. Right,
Didn't they get Kyrie Irving? What happened there? Right? Did they
not make other certain moves? They couldn't keep haw Hafer, he leaves,
Guess who comes back to Boston. But what's still standing there are their foundational
players and they have been founate enough. Right, Like, yes, the
lottery, I'm not using that as the as the as the straight and narrow
example. What I'm saying is is that the Los Angeles Clippers have never shown
a propensity to draft well or to make sure that they keep their foundational pieces
so that when they go out in free agency and they make this big splash,
that everything rests on that one said player or this one particular move,
because then bye bye. By this showing you that if the guy's not healthy,
or the guy's not committed, or something goes on, you have got
nothing, right, You've got nothing. All of that money shaw are are
all invested in guys who are coming from different places, but none of them
truly have been a part of or embrace the Los Angeles Clippers, right.
And so that to me is the fear. And I feel bad because Balmer
is doing every everything in his power to put together a successful, winning basketball
culture, not just a team man culture, and a lot of these guys
have don't have the same kind of mentality or are approaching it much differently than
what the money is dictating, and what and the frustrations that I think people
are seeing from this team. Let's let's put it like this show, if
we stripped the disappointment of this season, wasn't it? During this iteration of
Tyron looted, he finally got the Los Angeles Clippers to the Western Conference finals,
Right, wasn't that? Wasn't there that opportunity when when Doc Rivers was
the head coach and they had Chris Paul, Blake Griffin, and DeAndre Jordan.
You know what I'm saying, And it's just interesting to me, Shaw
that those of those three pieces, Chris Paul was the journeyman, Blake Griffin
was their homegrown talent, and DeAndre Jordan as well, Right, and none,
none of these pieces are there anymore. But again, for that team
to still be somewhat successful, they held on to Griffin. They held on
and all of a sudden, you abandoned those rules. You decide we're gonna
go in a completely different direction with this is all about Kawhi and it's all
about George. And now, if this doesn't pan out, it doesn't matter
if Leonard or George leaves. But if this doesn't pan out, what are
you resting this team's future on? What foundational piece? Are you actually saying
there's going to be some sort of hope that this team is going to be
able to hang with the Pacific Division, let alone the Western Conference. Nothing.
It's just it's crazy to me, Shaw, it's absolutely crazy to me.
I think they're in a situation now where again that number is going to
jump from two o one. I almost feel like they kind of have to
bring Russ back. I don't know what that number is going to be.
Is it, you know, three year sixty type of thing? I don't.
I don't know. And then what do you bring Clumby back at as
well? Too? All those guys are thirty plus years old as our Kawhi
ANDPG because they here, you know, and I don't want to make this
to become a repetitive theme, but I honestly don't see an o the path
for them. Paul George and Kawhi Leonard have player options in twenty four,
twenty five, and I think obviously next year they're all in the contract.
They can maybe um Eric Gordon's number is not fully guaranteed, but everybody else
is under contract. So this is this is your team, and you've made
so many moves in terms of, you know, to get it, getting
to get Kawhi MPG there. You don't have a whole lot of draft equity
now and you know, all the moves even made this this past season and
getting rid of Canard and then bringing it in you know, Bones Highland and
so forth, and so like, it's just a lot of things coming in
and out. So there's not a clear path to roster construction from the draft
or even free agency because of the cap that they're already kind of that right
now. So it is, hey, let's see if we get load.
Let's do it. Let's gear up and do it one more time. Can
we load manager our way into whatever seed and then hopefully fingers crossed, bubble
gum and tape keep these guys pieced up together so that next year's playoff run
can be even better than what we've seen. And again, as I said
in the outset, none of us believe that's going to happen. But they
don't have a whole a lot of they don't have a lot of choices here
right now. And maybe they can move some of these supplemental pieces and Marcus
Morris and Robert Covington and guys like that, but nothing that's going to make
their teams substantively better because Paul, George and Kawhi are the guys, and
one more year is the way that this this thing probably goes. And I
think after once however it ends next year twenty four twenty five is a year
that both of those guys probably opt out, depending on where they're not obviously
in their career, and maybe they say, you know what, this LA
situation didn't work out for us one or the other. But I think next
year we're going to see this exact same team with minor change. Okay,
so let me let me let me try to put this as delicately as I
could possibly put this. I agree with you when I look at this roster
to the show, this roster is so heavily uneas even right. In other
words, what I'm saying is is that there is so much dependency on Kawhi
Leonard and Paul George that I don't think that they have enough versatility so that
if and when these guys do get injured, there's anyone there to really kind
of step in with any identity to supplement or do I mean and listen,
that's the uniqueness in the greatness of Kawhi Leonard and Paul George, right,
they arguably are one of we're one of the two best two way players that
you know, our generation has had, you know, between him, George
and Clay Thompson. They ushered in the error of the two way player and
it's importance in this NBA right. But we can also have seen as well
too that because of the extensiveness of using these guys the way that we've used
them, that their body has broken down. And they also recognize that they
are going to be the forefront of load management when you have so much committed
salary in these guys, right, So part of that, to me,
Shaw speaks more to the fact that you have to balance this team out in
some way, shape or form to give yourself the ability to say we're going
to load manage right throughout the year. We're gonna load manage, and they
should they should be justified. And so because it's clear neither one of these
guys are capable of finishing sixty percent of their NBA season, it's just not
going to happen. Even if even if you say, best case scenario they
are one hundred percent healthy, the Clippers won't even allow that to happen.
So I don't know what they're gonna do, Shaw, I genuinely don't know
what they're going to do. What I can say, though, is this,
And I was going to ask you this question about this you decide to
bring back Russell Westbrook, Russell Westbrook to me still looks like a guy that
wants to get out and run. I don't think he wants to be the
guy that has to sit there in a half court set and always have to
figure out and look for the shot. He may want to know, juststribute
and find guys, but doesn't that counter what you really want to see from
George and Leonard? Has not their play transitioned to a more half court oriented
style offense? And is that what Tyron lou is going to have to work
with even if you do decide to bring back Russell Westbrook and being able to
implement Westbrook style of play to complement George and Leonard. It's a valid point.
And I think, you know, in the regular season that can be
answered very simply by kind of staggering some of those minutes. You know,
you have one or one of those three are definitely or two of those three
kind of out there, maybe maybe not all three, so Russ can't get
it and go, you know, off of rebound and go up there and
try to push at times. But then when you're running half court offense,
you know, maybe he's not the guy who's you know, facilitating. They
just didn't get a lot of overlap. I think with all three of them
the course of the season, especially Russ came so late as he did.
I think what it would it comes down to, though, for next year,
is one of PG and Kauai have to be there. I think there's
actually enough talent wise with Norman Powell in whatever role normal Powers seems to be
able to handle a increased offensive role if if you needed to be the starter,
and and I was going to actually throw this out at you Shaw as
a question, let me ask throw this out because you're getting right into this
point. I wanted to ask you, would you be opposed to seeing Paul
George or Kawhi Leonard coming off the bench. I don't see a world where
that happens, I understand, but I'm just saying, would you be opposed
to that? Probably? I mean, I think Norman Power is still still
better suited as a guy coming off the bench. It doesn't help them in
any capacity in terms of their load management, whether they start or come off
the bench. So it's going to be about how they how they finish.
I don't know what it does to the roster um in terms of sorry the
starting rotations that degree. You know, if you're really squinting to see it,
it probably benefits rusts more than anything else. And I don't know if
you want to do that based on Russ's actually actual being available or versus all
right, with the talent on the roster actually indicates and dictates because you're more
than likely you're gonna you're gonna cater to Paul George and Kauhi for the most
part. But I think one of those guys coming off the bench probably caters
to Russ if he continues to beat your starter Norma Powe can oscillate either way.
I think he's good. It doesn't matter whether he starts comes off the
bench. And I think PG and Kawhi are just obviously too proud and too
good for that to really be their their true lives, I think at this
point. But it's an interesting situation, But you're not going to cater your
team to to kind of go around Russell Westbrook, I think at the stage
of his career either. Yeah, but I don't think I don't think it's
a question of catering. I think to me, it's a question of dynamic
right and you know, again, who do you have and and and maybe
that's what's gonna make it an interesting, you know, a dilemma sort of
speak for Tyron Lew to take into consideration once he has, you know,
a full grasp of what this roster is going to look like. To your
point, there's not going to be a whole lot of movement being made.
So I'm sure that Tyron Lew is already going to be looking at some of
the guys who are already ready available and implementing some kind of plan to say,
I need you guys to be here when we get come back, you
know, the training camp. I need you guys to be here with your
game. I need you to be here with your game. That's probably the
one good thing that we can say, because typically when you see a lot
of transition transactions happening in the off season, you know, most head coaches
really can't do a whole lot except for who they know is obviously there,
and the tweaking really begins when these guys are all collectively together, or maybe
they have some you know, off training you know, camps or stuff like
that. But it's to me, the one good thing that you can't say
about this is that Lou has an opportunity to really evaluate and talk to Mishaw.
It's not the stars, because they're either going to be there or not.
It's the role players and really trying to figure out how deep I can
truly go with what I need to do if and when that's situation occurs.
Again, where in case of emergency break glass, because that's what's gonna happen
with this team, no question. Well again, what I was saying earlier
is I think you need one of PG and Kawhi to be healthy. And
then with Palelan Russ, you have a chance, I mean not necessarily play,
not a title contending chance, but you have a chance to maybe do
something in the playoffs with the supplemental parts. The auxiliary guys who could probably
go again are Covington and Marcus Morris. And but what is the return if
you even were to trade them, like you're just not You're not getting a
first round even And I think that's the thing like yours, you would say,
yes, move them, And all I'm just saying is is that man,
even if you cannot move them, if there's nothing else there, they
cannot be guys that are just taking up space on the bench and not giving
you anything. Like if Covington is really there to be a defender, then
he's got to be a better defender. He can't be a liability. If
that's his calling card, then be better at that, right, um,
Nicholas Betune, Right like there has to be In other words, I think
what I'm saying Shaw is that Tyron Lou cannot afford to solely depend on well,
if my guys are healthy, that is so far from this anymore.
You have got to figure out a way to work with the other guys out
there and make sure that they are an intricate part in however capacity you use
them, because they got to be out on the floor. You can't just
let them sit there on the bench. Unfortunately, the injuries to your star
players don't give you the flexibility of thinking that that can happen. You get
what I'm saying. Most other coaches can basically sit there and say I'll use
a nine man lineup because they have confidence that their guys stay healthy. They're
on the floor, you know, and I can go through those stretches.
Tyron Lou don't have that luxury. You know, if he's not playing any
of these guys, you can't then suddenly expect them even if they get into
the playoffs, so they're suddenly going to start contributing. You've pretty much frozen
them for the rest of the year. So either get rid of them or
you really got to put emphasis on the fact that if there's no flexibility,
and this is what you gotta work with, these guys have got to step
up and be better. They just do and age may catch up with them,
whatever, but they've got they're on the roster, they're on the bench.
You gotta use them. He has he has to go with a different
mentality. I guess in what I'm saying in utilizing that roster to the fullest,
he is one of the few people that using the full fifteen full fourteen.
He's got to use them all because they all are going to have to
contribute in some capacity to supplement what they're not going to be able to get
through the course of the season with their star players. Yeah, only I'll
close by this. I think it's it's it's hard for for Lous to do
that because it's one thing. Uh, let's take let's take Marcus Morris,
for instance, so he'll he's going to get twenty eight minutes tonight because Paul
George is out. Well, Paul George is back tomorrow, So now Marcus
Morris gets twelve minutes. And so the oscillating of those auxiliary parts becomes that
they hard for them to kind of get into the rhythm. I understand,
like the experience if they were younger guys, like, hey, the minutes
or the minutes and the experience is important, but these are mostly veteran guys.
We sat here on on Award Show and gave the Clippers, or at
least I did, Hey, they're the deepest team in the league because they
have the most amount of known guys and the most amount of capable known guys
that are coming off their bench. But all those guys seem to be in
some sumonlance of a rhythm. And because of the load management that's going to
continue with the team, like let's not fool ourselves here, it puts those
people and those players in a very precarious situation because you're getting thirty minutes one
night, you're getting ten minutes the next night, and how do you build
a rhythm throughout the course of the season with that, um and supposed we're
just like, yeah, I want to stay ready, I think it's hard.
I look at that roster and there's twelve guys who should probably play,
you know, including Bones Highland and Terrence Man. You know, so if
you bring back Russ and you bring back Plumbley, you know, nobody's littering
on twelve man rotation out there. You know, this isn't college, so
um, this is gonna be tough for the Clippers too to oscillate and figure
out here. But for me, Meg, let's see what they do next
year. And you know, I'll be waiting for the injuries to happen.
Before you know, I put any any real, any real money on this
Clipper. You're already amputating them before they even step out. Why why would
you not? Why why would you believe anything else different what happened? And
I'm not disagreeing with you, but it and it sucks, it really,
it really does suck. And listen, I feel bad for Clippers fans man.
You know, a lot of you guys are so fixated on all of
these you know, faux pas, rivalries and things of that nature. And
it's like man, your team has got to be present and accounted for before
you even worry about those things. And that's what I'm hoping for more than
anything. I mean, listen, the Clippers shall have been a great find
for the NBA as far as a competitive nature because they speak to something that
is that doesn't get talked about, which is the willingness to find a way
to still compete and not let injuries become the excuse. But there does come
a point from an organization's perspective, from a fan perspective, and even from
a player perspective perspective, that this does not It just doesn't become sustainable anymore
when you just don't have able bodies out there competing, right when when you're
basically working with a mash unit on a night in, night out. They
there just comes a point where something has got to give on that and I'm
just hoping that they figured that out a lot sooner than later before it really
sets this organization back further than even before. Your tune to the baseline.
Cali Warrenshaw discussing the hot button topics of the NBA and this are coveted autopsy
reports coming up. We're gonna be focusing our attention on the Minnesota Timberwolves.
But before we do, you know, we got to make sure that we
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Download the SHARPS app. Today coming up, Sewan, I discuss Minnesota
Timberwolves. Here on the baseline. We are back Callie Warrenshaw baseline NBA podcasts,
and we are talking autopsy reports Sean and I on the White Jackets.
So as we continue to keep the conversation going, the next team we're putting
on a slab, it's going to be the Minnesota Timberwolves. You know,
Sean, Minnesota Timberwolves. Man, their team that wants to be among one
of those elites, but their record and their inconsistency of gameplay lends us to
continue to think differently. Right, only two games above five hundred coming in
is the eighth seed. I don't know, man, do you buy or
sell on the Minnesota Timberwolves. There's a lot of selling going on here,
but there's a caveat to where the symbolwolve season went right, Kat only played
twenty nine games, so that is obviously not what they expected. And while
the Gobert pairing alongside Cat wasn't all that great either, they need Cat to
play, you know, more than twenty nine games for the season to have
a true indication of how everything was supposed to work out. I think one
thing is clear after the playoffs. Anthony Edwards is and needs to be that
guy We've been saying that now for a couple of season, and Kat actually
needs to be kind of the the unsillary guy in the backup the robin to
an Anthon Edwards, Batman and then Gobert and Conley. I think the Conley
move was really astute of them. But my biggest question I think for the
Timberwolves is not necessarily how they figure out that starting rotation, but the compliment
complimentary pieces of like naz Reid, who was so immense for them and that
he got hurt. Are they going to be able to retain him because I
think it's gonna be a lot of interest out there and that guy a lot
of interest, And if they do retain him, that probably comes to the
detriment of Gobert because there's times this year where Reid looked a lot better at
least in terms of the pairing alongside the rest of those guys, then Gobert
did so. For me, that's where some of these bigger questions lie with
the Minnesota Timberwolves. But they just definitely need to have Kat and Edwards together
in a sixty to seventy games sample size to have any type of real wiggle
and shake in the Western Conference moving forward. Yeah, I mean, it's
to me, this is all about Anthony Edwards. It's you know, one
thing I can ask honestly give you Shaw is that Anthony Edwards is a man
of his word. He said that his emphasis is that he wanted to be
a better player defensively, eventually wants to be defensive Player of the Year.
He wants to be among one of the best players in the NBA, and
he is continually taking those strides to get there. I think what partly sucks
is whether or not the organization is reading this properly enough so that the players
that Anthony Edwards are surrounded by are giving him the opportunities and the chance for
him to continue to do those things. He's young, so I think part
of this is going to be like that growth process, but a lot of
it. Again, I think it's more organizational than anything. You know,
if they do retain a guy like nas Read, that's fine, but then
this is on Finch to figure out a way for both Gobet and Read too
in concert really help bolster that front court. To your point, Kat being
gone for twenty nine games definitely was a blow to them. And while this
team, you know, looked a little bit better defensively then last year,
I still think that part of that is that this team has holes um from
a defensive perspective that you know, maybe their offense can make up for at
times, but certainly there's just not enough consistency there to buy into it.
It'll be interesting to see what takes place here, but I agree with you
that, like I think, part of what needs to happen here is making
sure Kat stays healthy. But more importantly, they really have to to to
to figure out how to share up a lot of those supplemental pieces around the
star players that they have in order for those minutes to be meaningful when they
come off, when they go you know, when they go to the bench,
that the Minnesota Timberwolves can be you know, a a viable basketball team.
You know what I'm saying on a night in, night out basis.
Yeah, so they're they're better defensively. They've been really pretty good the defensively
the last two years. Actually it's the offense that's really struggling. And they
turn the ball over a lot. And I don't know how much you want
to put on D'Angelo Russell. You know, from when he was there,
he was actually two points even turnovers, and Conny as a guy who's traditionally
not a high turnover guy, so that will help somewhat. But they turn
them all over a lot, and they foul a lot as well, too,
consistently putting people on the line, even with one of the better rate
of defense. So if you're if you're a good defense, you're probably more
physical anyway, and then yeah, there's your more susceptible to fouling. But
some of those things I think they can kind of turn down and get better
at internally without a whole lot of effort defense, I mean in terms of
scheme, and that's just just kind of changing the way that they contest and
do some of those things effort wise. Yeah, I agree with you.
I think to me, show up and again the numbers will always speak to
certain things that we say. All right, you know they're they're good,
they're bad, whatever, But that to your point, the fact that this
is a team that has a propensity to foul, right, meaning they're giving
three points to the opposing team, and more importantly, their players are not
on the floor inavailable clutch or quote unquote important minutes. Right. This has
been the same problem with kat it's the same problem with Rudy Gobert. So
again, an adjustment is going to have to be And you can also make
the argument Anthony Edwards is susceptible to this. These are your star players,
these are your cornerstone players. They've got to be on the floor. So
there has to be some kind of influence approach or a schematic change that allows
them to be able to stay on that court much longer so that what they
give you, whether it's offensively or defensively, has meaning to it. That's
all that I'm saying. I'm not saying that they're a bad defensive team,
but I'm saying that the timeliness of how their star players are not able to
perform, whether it's because they have to come off they have to go to
the bench or because they can't execute because defensively they're allowing other teams to get
through them because they're carrying three four fouls. This team has had a propensity
of allowing that to happen way too many times over and it stymies what you
could put potentially see from them offensively. So that that and I think part
of that as well too, is making sure that you can bring in role
players where if you want guys like Cat and guys like Anthony Edwards and I
don't want to say Gobert. I think he's a risk taker at times,
but not nearly as much with his defensity to block shots and things of that
nature. But with Cat and with Edwards, they are risk takers. They're
going to have a high, you know, foul volume in you know,
through the course of a game. If you want that to be the case,
you gotta have guys that they're going to come off the bench and really
help be able to be supplemental and maintain some consistency out there. Four finch
to say, I can leave them off you know what I'm saying, take
them off the floor for like eight seven minutes. They can't afford to do
that if their guys are not going to come in and be able to sustain
either scoring or sustain their defensive abilities. I mean, I mean that's a
game, right, you know, can you figure out a ways to to
kind of out your your negative eye spects? You know when some of your
stars go out and not take too much of a hit. You know a
lot of times people skew and where or the other the two defensive mind and
they're two offensive minded. Getting that median aspect or building a rotation um and
a second unit that compliments here is the key to that too. So Jada
McDaniels is a guy who you know probably starts for them and then it's still
working on his offense, but is a high level defender. Conversely, o
naz Reid is a high level offensive guy who probably needs to figure out more
chops defensively if they're able to retain him. The Symbols team, I think
again, they they they are. They're not as bad as I think as
a record should because I while I understand the the the distaste a lot of
people I have for Cat, I get it and I can understand it in
in a very very poignant way. I'm also not at the same mindset of
like, okay, where he's he's not valuable at all to what they do.
And you can't tell me if he plays even thirty more games. He
played twenty nine total games this year, he plays thirty more games that that
doesn't have at least a ten ten win difference from where they where they were.
I think they really could have been, you know, a forty five
to even fifty win team had he been healthy the entire year. And you
know, maybe that's maybe that's foolish to say. You know, I don't
know, expecially for the people out there who really don't like him specifically,
but they didn't get a real fair shake at it. But they also didn't
do themselves any favors. And this is a year where they can kind of
look internally, figure out some role definement here obviously, and then I think
retain guys like nas Red and figure out a more defined role for McDaniels even
moving forward, and then I think they'll be all right and maybe we can
see the true sober Timberwolves this upcoming season. Your Tune to the Baseline Callie
Warrenshaw discussing the hot button topics of the NBA is our coveted autopsy reports.
Conversation is on the Minnesota Timberwolves. Coming up. Sean and I are going
to give our coveted eulogiza discussing the Minnesota Timberwolves. And there's an interesting question
that I want to ask Shaw based off of his assessment of Karl Anthony Town
do you want to want to miss out on what I'm going to throw at
his way? He's probably got his eyebrows up like the rock right now saying
what the hell are you about to ask me? You'll find out here on
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thank you for your support. We'll talk more about the Minnesota Timberwolves here on
the Baseline. We are back call Lee Warrenshaw Baseline NBA Podcast and we are
focusing our attention on the Minnesota Timberwolves and are coveted at autopsy reports. So
Shaw, the question that I have for you is this, Mike Conley obviously
was an intelligent choice as as as as to come in and really round things
out for the Timberwolves in many respects really help improve Rudy Gobert because you know
they were about to hang his ass. But my question to you is is
is Mike Conley the right point guard for this team moving forward? And the
reason why I asked this question is there may be an opportunity here, right,
you may have an opportunity for Anthony Edwards. While he I think he's
a great dominant point guard, he's also a guy that likes to have the
ball in his hands, and he also likes to play in an isolated,
isolation style type of way. I think Finch is allowed that to happen,
you know, quite often through the courses this year. Is it out the
realm of possibility that he could transition to being more of a guard so to
speak, and because he's gonna have the ball in his hands more when it
comes to having a guy like Mike Conley who you would think have the ball
more in his hands, but he is he isn't as he isn't as transitional
as I think the Timberwolves need to be with their with their with their youth
and their athleticism. That's the reason wh I'm kind of curious and I'm like,
how long do you continue to go with this combination. If you're Finch,
Yeah, I think Conley's fine for where they are right now. He
was an upgrade from D'Angel Russell, who is Yeah, I'm not saying that
he wasn't No, absolutely yeah. I think just think that when he trumped
out of the ball dominant. So Connley is not a super high useless guy.
He knows how to get guys at the spots, but not and pick
his own spots were necessarily where I think Russell might have struggled with that.
I don't. I wouldn't want Anthony Edivers having to run and initiate offense on
a regular basis. I think, you know, you get a guy like
Conley who can table set for him, um in a way that gets him
to to some of his spots. Wellether it is, even if it is
to create some level of of isolation at some point, that's probably that better
move. And Connley he only has. You know, next year will be
the final year of his deal, and then you can make some hard decisions
whether or not Conny will be thirty six, you know after that, after
next season, and do you figure out a way to get some someone's of
an upgrade or just just move off of him altogether bring him back, you
know. As again, I don't think Conny's gotten past a lot of his
injury issues at least, you know, knock on wood and think again,
he's just low maintenance and probably what they need for this team that has some
some some growing up and maturity that needs to kind of permate throughout their locker
room. That includes Cat as well too, who wants to be a leader,
who just kind of has has a maturalized for him yet. So I
like Connley being there for multitude of reasons, but a lot of them start
with the basket of the actual basketball, which would keep Edwards you know,
off ball and allowing him to kind of develop that way as as a as
a high efficient scorer in this NBA. Do you we always come to this
question when you talk about Karl Anthony Towns. Do you view Towns as a
one B or to a type player? Yeah, I think the stats will
tell you that he's one B, but I think in terms of the locker
room and aspect, I think he's probably more of a two. You know,
and we you know, we talked about the Clippers on the earlier earlier
segment and Paul George you know, said on the podcast recently, He's like,
hey, I realized that I needed to be a number two, and
that's that's humbling. Some people are going to poke fun at that, but
there's nothing wrong with understanding, like, hey, who who you are and
what your what your actual makeup is. I don't think Cat has come to
that realization as of yet. And I'm not saying that he shouldn't strive to
be better. I mean, we all should be trying to do that,
but I think as currently constructed, if you're looking at taking it from the
eye test, Edward seems to be the guy who can really truly command the
locker room and command the court in a way that that Cat doesn't. And
while Cat's numbers are always going to be impressive, there's something that's just a
little bit missing when it comes to the galvanization of the rest of the team
and the roster around that. So that's where I stand on it. Cat's
not destitute. Cat's not as bad as a lot of people is trying to
make him out to be. But I don't think he's the one a build
your team around type guy. But I think they have they have a guy
there, it's just a matter of having that role definement kind of be more
curly constructed for both of them as as this franchise pushes forward here in the
coming seasons. Well, I like how you put that, because I think
part of that is when the rubber, you know, meets the road,
so to speak, about what do you do with with Karl Anthony Towns if
if what he's doing is not affluent to what you're getting from Anthony Edwards?
Right, Like, so Karl Anthony Towns average is like twenty points per game,
right, what does that actually mean in the grand the grand scheme of
things. See, you know what I'm saying, y'all like to me,
like, what's interesting is that Karl Anthony Towns came into the NBA as being
this offensively potentially gifted player. And there's nothing that doesn't say that. But
there's nothing other than the injuries that's jumping out at me saying he can do
this and he can consistently do it throughout you know what I'm saying, Like,
if you kind of look through through his you know the years that he's
played, he has a highs and he's got a lot of lows where he
just disappears from games. Part of it was, Okay, he didn't have
that one A player next to him or one B player. All right,
He's had Anthony Edwards next to him a few times. Now we're seeing Anthony
Edwards taking leaps and bounds of elevating himself not just as potentially one of the
most offensively exposive players in the game of basketball, but also being one of
the more dynamic leaders in the game of basketball at age twenty one. And
so what I'm just saying is is that, like, even if we wanted
to backtrack a little bit and put Karl Anthony Towns in a specific space of
this is going to give him the opportunity for him to grow. I'm just
curious of what that growth is supposed to look like. Is it him going
back to being that offensively gifted basketball player that everyone says that he is.
Which part of that means as well, at his position, not only should
his game flourish for his ability to shoot the basketball, but his game as
his ability to play that four position, to be able to have mid range
and be able to post and take He doesn't really do all of that,
you know, and I don't know if it's because of injury. I don't
know if it's just preferences style of play. All I'm just saying is it's
that, like, it's hard to define now what Karl Anthony's Town offensively is
going to be able to give you, just simply because we're starting to see,
you know, a little bit of I want to say, inconsistency again
in the definition of what he's going to bring to the table for a team
that really, from a talent perspective, should be a middle ground team at
the very least as floor level. That's what this team is. But to
your point, the twenty nine games robbed us of being able to say if
whether or not that's true or false in that belief. With the elevation of
what Edwards had given you this year and moving Russell and bringing in a comparable
point guard to allow us to be able to make that assessment about whether or
not go bear, Edwards and Towns are a good trifecta for this, for
this team and the organisation. Yeah, I'll just close by saying this Town's
has the ability to live on the perimeter. Obviously in the minutes where Gobet
is out there I think he should flip flop in the minutes if they keep
NOAs Read were, now he becomes a guy who goes down to the block
and let nas Read be the shooter from the perimeter. I think it's ridiculous
to maybe had them both doing that at the same time. So I think
if you stagger the minutes in the rotation, that allows times to get to
get the requisite post touches that I think can keep him efficient and kind of
keep him in a mode that makes sense for the Timberwolves holistically, and then
he can venture back out there the perimeter when when Gobet's there, you know,
in those minutes together. But he tends to want to just be perimeter
based with very very very very few paint touches and post ups, and I
think that does the Timber Bowls a disservice, especially when they're trying to hunt
for ways to get easy offense. So we'll see if they make those some
of those changes going into next season. All right, Well, to your
point, Shaw, I mean, you hope that what we're varying is the
bad habits of the Minnesota Timberwolves. If there's any ability for them to take
an elevated you know, I'm saying to put themselves in an elevated space,
take that next level up sort of speak. I would hate to think that
what they gave us last year in this year is really the seiling the ceiling
for this team as far as the composition of what this team's potentially is going
to be able to do. I still think there's an opportunity for them to
improve, especially with the down year that the Minnesota, with the Memphis Grizzlies,
and you know, with some of these other teams that we're thinking are
supposed to be in the throes of things. But part of it as well
too is whether or not is sustainable for this Minnesota Timberwolves team. You know,
So hopefully both of these teams, Clippers and Wolves, will be better
than they've shown. Um, I think the Wolves probably have more ceiling and
more faith in terms of just by being of hopefully being healthy. But these
are two really proud teams and franchises that should better than they showed you in
the Western Conference going into next season, for sure. All Right, well
said brother Well said, great show again on the docket this week, man.
I once again always appreciate the fact that you can help me. You
know what I'm saying, examine the dead with the brutal efficiency and effectiveness how
we do here in the baseline. So we'll see who's next up the winner
or the loser. Rather the Kings and UH Warriors areas will be definitely up
there. And then those ships talking Memphis Grizzlies, the last team the first
round. Somebody, somebody tell me, yeah, like you you amped out
ready to talk about them? Man, I mean personally, I'm just being
like Danny Green. They are who we thought they were. That's it.
Sometimes that sometimes that's a shame. So that is once again, we like
to thank you and yours for hopping off board with us this week for the
baseline. Kylie warren Shaw, we appreciate you guys. You know we do.
We catch up with you next time. Inst